Friday, February 7, 2014

Hot for You by Jessie Evans Book Blitz

Faith Miller has faith in two things—her surrogate firehouse family, and her own two hands—and she needs a man in her life like a fish needs a bicycle. Growing up watching her mom get used and discarded by one deadbeat boyfriend after another has left Faith jaded, and determined not to fall into the same trap. But when Mick Whitehouse moves back to Summerville, Faith’s happy, single life is turned upside down. The hunky carpenter is a far cry from the little boy she used to wrestle with on the playground in elementary school. Mick’s all grown up, tempting as sugar coated sin, and determined to seduce Faith into forgetting all her rules.

One kiss under the mistletoe and Mick Whitehouse knows that he wants Faith Miller. Bad. After years of lukewarm relationships with the wrong kind of girls, Mick is powerfully drawn to Summerville’s only female firefighter, and determined not to let her push him away. Beneath Faith’s tough exterior is a heart of gold, and the chemistry between them is four-alarm hot. But just as he finally convinces Summerville’s most confirmed bachelorette to take a chance on love, an old girlfriend waltzes into town and drops a bombshell in Mick’s lap.

As Faith and Mick come to terms with the shocking news, Faith must choose: let fear of repeating her mother’s mistakes send her running, or have faith in the man she’s come to love?

~EXCERPT~

“You,” Faith said with a disgusted shake of her head, her tone inferring that finding Mick starting across the street toward her was only slightly less disgusting than discovering she’d stepped in a steaming pile of dog doo. “What are you doing here?”

“I live above the bakery now.” Mick forced a smile, refusing to take Faith’s scowl at face value. She’d acted irritated with him at the Fireman’s Ball, too, but she’d also kissed him like his mouth contained the last gasp of air in a burning building.

Things weren’t always what they seemed with Faith, which was part of the reason he found her so damned interesting.

“Great,” she said with a sigh, swinging her backpack over one shoulder. “When did that happen?”

“Last week, right after the store opened.” Mick stepped onto the sidewalk beside her. “And not long after Jake and Naomi got engaged. A lot of things have changed while you’ve been gone.”

Faith snorted in a way that Mick found inexplicably sexy.

“Duh. I knew that was going to happen. I knew before anyone. I have a phantom limb that tingles when people are getting ready to get hitched, and it was tingling big time for those two.”

Mick grinned. “A phantom limb?”

“Yes,” she said, standing up straighter, her posture making it clear she wasn’t in the mood to be teased, which of course only made Mick want to tease her more.

“So, where was this limb before it became a phantom, marriage-foretelling limb?” he asked, letting his eyes roam up and down Faith’s body, disturbed to realize that he found her sexier in orange pants and an oversized jacket than he’d found Nina in her skimpy dress. “Was it a third arm, or a third leg?”

“It was a vestigial tail,” she said with a straight face. “And I know you don’t want to come on to a girl who used to have a tail, so take a step back, Whitehouse.”

“I wouldn’t care if you still had a tail, Miller,” he said, ambling closer, until their frosty breath mingled between their faces. “I’d still want to take you out.”

Faith’s eyes narrowed. “Stop it,” she said in a softer voice. “We talked about this.”

“We did not,” Mick said, deliberately playing dumb. “I don’t remember any talk about your tail. If I had, I would have asked Maddie to knit you a tail warmer instead of that horrible vest she made me for Christmas.”

Faith’s lips quirked up at the edges. It was a flicker of a smile, but enough to give Mick hope.

“Come on,” he said. “Give me a chance. Let me take you and your tail out to dinner.”

“I never had a tail, and I certainly don’t have one now,” she said, then added after a beat, “As for the other…I appreciate the offer, but I’m not interested.”

“Liar,” Mick said, knowing he was right when Faith’s eyes widened and a spark flickered in their warm brown depths.

“I think you’re interested,” he continued. “And I think if I kissed you right now, you’d kiss me back the way you did at the ball.”

~MEET THE AUTHOR~

Jessie Evans gave up a career as an international woman of mystery to write the sassy, Southern romances she always wanted to read.

She's married to the man of her dreams, and together they're raising a few adorable, mischievous children in a tree house in the boonies. She grew up in rural Arkansas, spending summers running wild, being chewed by chiggers, and now appreciates her home in a chigger-free part of the world even more.

When she's not writing, Jessie enjoys playing her dulcimer (badly), sewing the worlds ugliest quilts to give to her friends, going for bike rides with her house full of boys, and wandering the woods, glass of wine and camera both in hand, on the lookout for Bigfoot.

A southern girl, born and bred, Jessie loves writing Southern romances with just the right amount of sizzle, and hopes you'll enjoy her stories set in the fictional town of Summerville, Georgia.